San Diego facility Associated Self Storage - Kearny Mesa offers fair rates, exceptional customer service, drive-up units, 24/7 maintenance and more. But a location with poor visibility, competitors with much bigger budgets and a big hit in the economy’s downturn made it difficult for the facility to fill units. Partnering with SpareFoot gave them a different kind of visibility - through online self-storage marketing - to drive growth and increase revenue.
The Goal
Associated Self Storage - Kearny Mesa wanted to boost its occupancy by improving its visibility to qualified local prospects—without spending a fortune on advertising or hiring an in-house marketing team.
The Results
increase in new customer referrals
new customer move-ins at Kearny Mesa location
in revenue from SpareFoot
combined move-ins at 3 Pacific Coast Commercial storage locations
The Challenge
Despite offering great amenities, the facility was hindered by its physical location: It’s hidden behind several hotels, and Public Storage sits nearby in a much more visible position. The company has a limited marketing budget and no dedicated marketing staff. Prior to working with SpareFoot, the facility saw average occupancy rates of only 80.7%.
2 of 10 storage spaces were unfilled at Associated Self Storage - Kearny Mesa
The Solution
By joining SpareFoot, this local storage company substantially increased its online visibility on a limited self-storage marketing spend. Through 60+ national partners that reach customers who need storage, including Penske Truck Rental and SelfStorage.com, SpareFoot has given this facility free exposure to 101,809 customers.
The exposure is free because Associated Storage only pays SpareFoot when one of those customers actually moves in and starts paying rent.
Associated Storage is promoted on those big brand partners’ websites and in their call centers. This empowers an independent operator to cost-effectively generate even more quality leads. SpareFoot gets more web traffic than all other storage directories combined—they leverage their scale to pass that visibility onto facilities like Herring’s.
Herring and her team only had to set up one free listing, and it automatically appeared across those 60+ different relevant websites: “It was like flipping a switch, and all of a sudden we were getting rentals,” she said. SpareFoot integrates with Associated Storage’s existing software, automatically identifying available inventory and representing it online.
Now Associated Storage can highlight its offerings to a targeted audience of people who are actively searching for storage in the San Diego area.
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The Client
Katrina Herring is the manager of Associated Self Storage - Kearny Mesa, one of three facilities in the San Diego area owned by Pacific Coast Commercial. She has worked in the industry for nearly five years.
The Market
City: San Diego
Population: 1.356 million
Total facilities: 110
Number of REIT-owned facilities: 17
The Facility
Number of units: 635
Owned by: Family-owned
Years in business: Nearly 30 years
Account: Pacific Coast Commercial
Number of facilities on SpareFoot: 3
We needed a way to reach qualified leads on a limited budget and with minimal effort to increase occupancy. SpareFoot helped us compete with storage companies that have a lot more resources.
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